Walls or floors first?

We will be painting attic which will include putting in drywall where old plaster has buckled. Husband also wants the floor refinished. Which makes more sense to do first? Walls or floor?

Walls first.

yahooyahoo said:

Walls first.

Yep. 

Thanks.  It makes sense, but for some reason I convinced myself of the opposite. 

I am not convinced it makes sense to do the walls first.  if  you are refinishing the floors, that can be messy.  I did the floors first and then covered the floors with brown paper - every inch.  Then did the walls.  Walls are harder to cover and depending on what you are doing with the floors you can make a mess near the bottom of the walls.

I did a google search and it says it depends on what type of work you are doing on the floors but many experts said to do the floors first.  My contractor said to do the floors first.  

I would do the drywall, floors, then paint.  

EricBurbank said:

I would do the drywall, floors, then paint.  

That makes the most sense.

I would do the walls first including the paint (it's great to spackle and paint without worrying about drop-cloths).

Save the baseboard moulding installation for last since there would be some bumping up against the very bottom of the walls with the floor sander. The new baseboard would also cover any splashing of stain or poly. Any splashing above the baseboard line could be easily paint touched-up,

1) drywall

2) install new base

3) sand/mud/prime walls

4) sand floor, apply first traffic coat of poly

5) finish paint walls and base

6) lightly screen and top coat poly

Do not install baseboard last. Any minor nicks caused by sander are handled by the painter and you have to mud walls after the base goes in otherwise, unless you have the flattest wall in history, you will have gaps between the base and the drywall.

That is like asking what came first the chicken or the egg. 

I would actually do the floors first, cover them with Ramboard to protect them, then paint (but do wall repairs before floor). If you do floors after painting you WILL have a lot of stain and polyurethane on the baseboard.

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with "June".

I've never-ever had to spackle again after installing baseboard over new drywall.  Baseboard is surprisingly flexible and can be easily installed very tightly with a nail gun. Any slim gaps between baseboard top edge and new drywall is easily covered with paintable silicone caulk which I always run a bead of anyway.

I'd much rather have any potential gouges that the floor sander makes be on the drywall which will be covered by the baseboard rather than have any marks on a nice new clean baseboard.

steel said:

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with "June".

I've never-ever had to spackle again after installing baseboard over new drywall.  Baseboard is surprisingly flexible and can be easily installed very tightly with a nail gun. Any slim gaps between baseboard top edge and new drywall is easily covered with paintable silicone caulk which I always run a bead of anyway.

I'd much rather have any potential gouges that the floor sander makes be on the drywall which will be covered by the baseboard rather than have any marks on a nice new clean baseboard.

I'm guessing your version of spackle is basically just covering tape joints. My assumption is that you don't want a wavy wall and/or baseboard and are therefore skimming flat up to your molding. Again, the final paint on the baseboard still goes after the sanding so there are no dings unless your sander is a total klutz.

I had a guy come in just this week to give me an estimate on both painting and floors. He says absolutely they do the floors first. 

Any floor guy will say floors first.  Any painter will say walls first.  I totally agree with steel, and have done it that way for years.  I hate covering floors after finishing them because any grit trapped turns into sandpaper.

Interesting differences of methodology expressed here.

Personally, I’ve never had cause to skim the bottom of newly installed drywall and can’t imagine why I would create that additional work and dust unless the studs were installed out-of-whack which should be addressed before the drywall installation via shims or sister-studs. To that end, I always put a long level horizontally against the studs to make sure they line-up. New drywall, by it’s very nature makes a nice clean line which should only require spackling at the taped seams.

Additionally, after installing baseboard, I like to install quarter-round at the very bottom. —Both pre-painted, requiring only minimal touch-up at the joineries and silicone beads.

I would never let a floor-sander run his machines up against new quarter-round or any moulding unless I somehow had no choice, -especially in the corners. -Not just because it could damage the moulding but also because it allows the sander to get a more even sanding finish in the corners and right up to the edges. 

FilmCarp said:

Any floor guy will say floors first.  Any painter will say walls first.  I totally agree with steel, and have done it that way for years.  I hate covering floors after finishing them because any grit trapped turns into sandpaper.

Well the guy who said do the floors first was from a painting company. That's their main thing (it's right there in their name). 

I saw that. My response wasn't aimed at you, it was just based on experience.  If the same company is doing  both I guess as long as you are happy with the result it's all good.